St. Landry democrat., 1887-07-30
THE PERSIAN MOSQUE.
A Place Rich in Oriental Art and Always
Open to True Believers.

A Place Rich In Oriental Art ana Always
Open to True Believers.
The interior of a Persian mosque is always
the same There is courtyard; it may be
large it may be small, it may be paved with
stone, brick, or tilework; it is always sur
rounded b. wall, which may be high or
low. Invariably there is a vessel for drink
ing-water and a hauz or tank for perform
ing the necessary additions. The drinking
water receptacle may be crock, or stone
vessel resembling a font, or similar recepta-
Gle in metal of brass, copper, silver, or even
gold. The mosque itself may be mere
mud hovel; but even in these cases
there is usually some slight attempt
at a domed roof 1t may be Of plain brick,
of stone-which is, however, very rarely en-
ployed in Persia in the building Of mosques
or it may be built of bricks covered inside
and out with tle-work, such as cannot be
imagined for elegance and beauty by the I'M
travelled European. A good Persian mosque
appears like vast editCe of blue-and-Whlte
porcelain. Sometimes it is of light blue,
sometimes deep indigo. The taste of these
decorations is undeniable. Inscriptions and
texts, the letters of which are three, four and
even six feet long and may be read for
miles, are not uncommon But few
years ago mosques and shrlnes were
frequently despOiled of their choicest treas
ures-magniticent tiles covered with lnscrlp-
tons in high relief in blue, white, and gold,
the letters of which were frequently decor
ated with that peculiar glaze (now lost art
in PERSIA which made the inscriptions give
forth metallic lustre and caused them when
the suns rays fell upon them to resemble
masses of FURNISHED gold. If the exteriors
of these mosques are magnificent, still more
beautiful are the interiors; the walls, the
arches, the columns, the floors and the vast
domes are covered with eXquisitely executed
tile-work.
Persian mosque is place for prayer
and meditation, place for GOODNESS and
shade, place where the heads Of religion
may address the multitude, place from
which noise and conversation are banlshed,
and also place where at night the house
less poor may always find shelter and, at
times, even food. At one end of the mosque,
usually in the centre of the wall, is niche;
this is the naihrab, and indicates the direc-
ton of Holy Mecca, whittier the pious
Mussulman must invariably turn when
offering his prayers. On the mihrab is
lavished all the skill of the ceramic
artist; 1t is from the village mihrao
shrines and tombs of saints, that
the celebrated Persian tiles have been
wrenched, sold for asong, and exported with
other curios real or fictitious. to reappear in
ebony frames on the walls of some wealthy
European virtuoso. So ford, and withal so
chaste, is the interior decoration of the
mosque that the eye at first fails to appre-
ciate two things First, the great size Of the
building; next, the fact that it is almost per-
fectly void of furniture. True, large por-
ton of the pavement is matted. There is
also lofty pulpit of plane wood (the MIN
bar) painted black, but it is simply a ladder
of some twelve steps, the highest step being
twice as broad as the others and forming
seat for the preacher.
In the exterior arcades of the Persian
mosque the readers of the Koran and the
teachers of religion may be seen surrounded
by little circles of rapt students and disciples.
On Friday the mosque is thronged with
worshipers, who attend the public prayers
and sermons of the moollahs whom they
most venerate. From the lofty minarets at
the hours of prayer may be heard the cries of
the blind men who are chosen for the office
of muezzin: "In the name of God, the Com
passionate, the Merciful" etc. There is no
music, no show, no putting on of fine clothes,
in the service of the Persian mosque At
sunset the beggars, the poor the homeless,
the manned, the halt and the blind come
here to obtain rest and shelter; and the door
of Gods house is ever open to the believer
st. James Gazette.